Dr. Wafa Sultan
The interview of Dr. Wafa Sultan on al Jazeera
The New York Times' article title last night:
For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats
The New York Times' article title this morning:
Muslim's Blunt Criticism of Islam Draws Threats
Dr. Sultan interprets the words of an Egyptian religious scholar at the interview asking her if she was a heretic and stating that she had blasphemed Islam, Mohammed and the Koran, as a death fatwa. She has received many death threats by phone and by email since the interview.
The article also leaves out Dr. Sultan's words [which I have bolded] about Buddhism in this quote:
Perhaps her most provocative words on Al Jazeera were those comparing how the Jews and Muslims have reacted to adversity. Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, "The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling."
She went on, "We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy."
This could make it look as if she is praising Jews against Muslims but she is protesting extremist violence in her own religion vs examples from two other major religions. She has earned a right to speak out against extremist Islamic violence. Her professor was shot dead by the radical Muslim Brotherhood before her eyes while she attended university in Syria. That was the moment she lost her Faith.
The scariest part of the interview is:
But Islamic reformers have praised her for saying out loud, in Arabic and on the most widely seen television network in the Arab world, what few Muslims dare to say even in private.
Are they being silenced by threats?
Does she have the right to speak out or will her interview be largely condemned and/or dismissed as one-sided and inflammatory. Watch it for yourself.